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The Laser looks at ease in his new No.3 position...
On ‘home’ turf, Barnaby quickly looked comfortable, biffing one boundary straight back past the bowler with great authority. However, his innings ground to a halt as Tapsfield bowled a very canny spell of 6 overs for just 8 runs. Bartholemew progressed to a good half century with another languid cover drive to complete an excellent NTMCC debut.
At 126-3, NTMCC looked fairly comfortable. The introduction of Cornwell changed the course of the game, with Hone all at sea against the ‘moon ball’. Bowled for 12. Even Barty wasn’t immune, skying a wide one to Woodhams Jnr at deep cover. Stanton too was tempted into a rash shot, swiping at a straight one and missing it altogether.
An enthusiastic appeal for LBW from the K-Man goes unrewarded...
The batting was bolstered by the presence of Bartholemew at the top of the order. Not that this was any guarantee of success. As one wry observer noted, “Have you ever actually seen him score any runs?” Happily, Barty took this opportunity rather well, effortlessly picking off the opening bowlers Woodhams and Ledsham.
James Williams, for once relegated to No.2 status, was playing a longer game, with very few loose balls on which to feed. A few classic strokes were unleashed, but he was finding scoring rather trickier than Ian. This all came to a rather unhappy end as James slashed at a wide one and was unlucky to be brilliantly caught by Ledsham in the gully. 55-1.
The Laser showed few signs of vertigo at No.3 and cracked a couple of great 4s before being bowled for 8. This brought on Muttukumaru, who played a couple of nice shots before being trapped lbw by Woodhams for 10. Note to self: Spud to join the umpiring blacklist.
Stanton mildly frustrated by a missed run out...
At this point, NTMCC might have looked to press home their advantage. This didn’t really materialise though, as Hayward and Alex Woodhams proved rather efficient in putting away any loose deliveries. Even the economical Beacham took some punishment.
The skipper’s “go to man” for a crisis was called upon: Laser Critchley. Leo’s first over went for runs but he struck gold in his second, Williams taking a good reaction catch at square leg. With Woodhams Jnr holing out to Malcolm at third man and Woodhams Snr getting bowled round his legs by The Dolphin, the innings rather fizzled out. Tea was reached and the declaration was made at 192-9.
Beacham gets the first wicket down...
There followed a slightly messy period of play where Beacham stopped taking wickets and Standage bowled a few beamers. The captain introduced himself and snaffled a return catch in his first over.
However, the real story was the debut of Parthasarthy, bowling from the Pavilion End. Bowling left arm medium pace from over the wicket, Karthik made a very impressive start to his NTMCC career. The dangerous-looking Butters was trapped lbw for 19 and Ledsham spooned one up to cover to leave Crowhurst 6 down for 116.
NTMCC gave a good account of themselves in the annual fixture at Crowhurst.
On a bright day near the Sussex coast, NTMCC took to the field in the early afternoon with high hopes. Muttukumaru had won his third toss in a row and openers Beacham and Malcolm were reunited for the first time since 4 July last year against the London Itinerants.
Cornwell and Boswell started steadily, but Beacham made the early breakthrough by bowling Boswell for 14. Malcolm struggled with length and self-diagnosed a case of the bowling yips. Standage was brought on from the Swingers End and promptly bowled Jenner for 14. And as the Cannon never tires of saying, “1 brings 2”. And so it proved, with Cornwell caught brilliantly at mid on by Hone off Beacham. 55-3.
A Woodhams: 9.2-1-39-4
R Ledsham: 10-2-47-2
M Tapsfield: 6-3-8-0
S Butters: 3-0-32-0
K Cornwell: 6-1-29-3
A Boswell: 1-0-9-0
D Beacham: 11-1-57-3
O Malcolm: 7-1-28-0
J Standage: 4-0-18-1
K Parthasarthy: 6-1-32-2
T Muttukumaru: 5-1-22-1
L Critchley: 3-0-23-2
Standage sends the skipper on his way...
Mid-calamity, Jobbers entered the fray at number 6. He was soon involved in a dreadful mix-up with Parthasarthy, sending back the debutant, who was run out for 5. The big man from Alderley Edge was soon back in the pavilion himself, snicking a wide one to the keeper for 4. When Standage too was bowled for a duck, it was 139-9, a score of 13-6 over the course of about 5 overs.
Beacham and Malcolm put in a brief stand, smashing some looser deliveries to the boundaries to briefly tip some pressure onto the home side. Unfortunately, Woodhams’ return led to Malcolm mis-timing a big shot to mid-off for 20. We ended up 24 runs shy of our target.
Run out mayhem...
Overall, it was a very enjoyable, if slightly curious game. We could have won it. We probably allowed them a few too many runs in the latter stages and certainly conceded a relatively large number of extras (in spite of some very lenient/generous umpiring from their side – I could certainly have been called for several wides which weren’t called). On top of that, our batting did fold rather spectacularly.
Having said that, I’m not sure that anyone was all that bothered by the result. It was, as always, a great day out for all involved. Thanks to our supporters (Mrs Malcolm and Mrs Standage) for their generous and occasionally vociferous support. Thanks also to Crowhurst for their generous hospitality. We are hoping to make this into one of two ‘tour games’ next season.
Points allocated as follows...
Fantasy League Points
Bartholemew: 77
Williams: 18
Critchley: 48
Muttukumaru: 40
Hone: 17
Jobling: 4
Stanton: -10
Parthasarthy: 45
Standage: 10
Malcolm: 20
Beacham: 68
Club Man Points
Bartholemew: 0
Williams: 2 (umpiring, scoring)
Critchley: 1 (scoring)
Hone: 0
Jobling: 1 (scoring)
Stanton: 3 (lifts, kit bag)
Parthasarthy: 0
Standage: 3 (umpiring, lifts)
Malcolm: 2 (scoring, lifts)
Beacham: 0
Supporters Points
Shelly: 6
Elise: 6
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